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NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alliqua, Inc. (OTCBB:ALQA) (Frankfurt:HL1) ("Alliqua"), an advanced biomedical products company focused on the development and manufacturing of proprietary drug delivery and liver health technologies, announced today the successful completion of its initial study for the transdermal pain patch project.

In the comparative dissolution study, the Alliqua patch demonstrated a favorable profile when compared to the market leading product for treatment of PHN pain. Management estimates that global value of the PHN pain patch market today is approximately US$1.4 billion. Based on the positive results, Alliqua will proceed to the next developmental stage, including in vitro testing.

"The successful outcome of this study validates the progress Alliqua has made in creating a specialized transdermal pain patch based on our proprietary hydrogel technology. With additional products currently in development, this is the first of many important steps towards our goal of becoming a leading specialty pharmaceutical company," said Richard Rosenblum, President and Director of Alliqua.

Alliqua has also completed several other milestones in the development of the PHN patch product, including but not limited to:

Alliqua intends to continue to aggressively pursue a generic version of an existing pain management patch for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia ("PHN"). PHN is associated with shingles, which is a rising medical problem in the United States and around the world as countries continue to struggle with increasingly elderly populations.

Management estimates that the total U.S. market for pain management pharmaceuticals, exclusive of over-the-counter products, totaled in excess of $20 billion in 2009, with the market for the existing prescription pain patch in excess of $1 billion in the U.S. alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1 million cases of shingles occur in the United States annually, and approximately 20% of shingles cases result in PHN. Alliqua's patch technology enables the delivery of drugs and active ingredients directly through the stratum corneum, avoiding 'first pass' of the digestive system and the liver.

AquaMed manufactures custom hydrogels used for transdermal drug delivery, wound care, medical diagnostics, and cosmetics. These products use proprietary manufacturing technologies which enable AquaMed to produce what is known in the healthcare industry as high water content, electron beam cross-linked aqueous polymer sheet hydrogels. AquaMed believes that it is one of two manufacturers in the world for these gels. Alliqua's third subsidiary, HepaLife Biosystems, Inc., focuses on the development of a cell-based bioartificial liver system, known as HepaMate™.

Any statements contained in this press release regarding our ongoing research and development and the results attained by us to-date have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of words like "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties outside of the our control that can make such statements untrue, including, but not limited to, adverse economic conditions, intense competition, lack of meaningful research results, entry of new competitors and products, adverse federal, state and local government regulation, inadequate capital, termination of contracts or agreements, technological obsolescence of our products, technical problems with our research and products, price increases for supplies and components, inability to carry out research, development and commercialization plans, loss or retirement of key executives and research scientists and other specific risks. We currently have no commercial products intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease. The statements contained in this press release regarding our ongoing research and development and the results attained by us to-date have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. There can be no assurance that further research and development, and /or whether clinical trial results, if any, will validate and support the results of our preliminary research and studies. Further, there can be no assurance that the necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained or that we will be able to develop new products on the basis of our technologies. In addition, other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 17, 2010 and our most recent Form 10-Q and Form 10-K filings with the SEC. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.